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“Messenger” is episode five of season one of Perception and it opens with Daniel complaining to Lewicki that this is the one day a week when he has no lectures and no obligations. He can do things like actual writing. Lewicki replies that Dean Haley twisted his arm; Daniel tells Lewicki that his arm is Daniel’s to twist. Lewicki says he doesn’t know what it is about.
They enter a room to find a big crowd, Dean Haley, and a lot of people with cameras. Hayley says that Daniel is this year’s winner of the Davenport Prize for Exploration in Science. Both Lewicki and Daniel look shocked; Lewicki swears in an undertone that he knew nothing about it. The prize comes with a $50K cheque. Daniel is looking really uncomfortable; there are probably fat too many people and cameras in the room. So he bolts out of the door. The dean follows and asks Daniel not to make him look bad in front of the chancellor. Haley put Daniel up for the prize and he wants just one handshake at the least.
Kate approaches at this point and Daniel asks her to please tell him she has a case. Kate starts assenting when Haley interrupts; Daniel is allowed to consult with the FBI as long as it does not interfere with his academic duties, and right now it’s interfering. However, Kate is actually here to talk to the dean. A jogger was found shot in the back in the national forest and they are having problems making an ID as he has no wallet and there’s nothing on the fingerprints. All they have are some tattoos that look religious in nature and Kate claims that a course that the dean taught was one of the best she ever took. So she wants Haley to come and see if he can help. Haley is willing, and suggests that Daniel entertain the chancellor; Kate, at a look from Daniel, says the victim may have suffered brain injuries so Daniel should come too. Haley thinks this is very exciting.
Haley probably thinks it’s rather less exciting after throwing up in the morgue – and the body isn’t really in bad shape. The dean links the tattoos to a convert to Hinduism from the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Daniel suggests checking with local methadone clinics, as he believes the victim was a junky and links the tattoos to a sobriety date and monkey on the victim’s back as a reference to heroin addiction.
Daniel is correct. The victim’s mother asks what her son has done now. Kate explains that Jared listed Mrs Baker as the contact by a methadone clinic, and explains that Jared is dead. Mrs Baker thanks Kate for bringing the news personally. She always thought she’d get a call in the middle of the night; she’d tried everything, therapists, rehab, a Swiss clinic, but when Jared turned 21 he got his grandfather’s trust and had the money for all the drugs he could desire. She last saw her son 4-5 months ago; he was living with a religious cult who bled every last cent he had left. Jared had claimed he has found the voice of god and was finally getting clean.
To be continued…
